Third-ranked Hawaii served Northern Colorado straight off the island Thursday, sweeping the Bears 25-21, 25-15, 25-15 in the opening round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 7,193 watched the Rainbow Wahine, seeded 10th in the postseason, play their first home subregional in eight years. Thursday’s other four subregionals drew a combined 7,390.

The Wahine play Colorado State in the second round at 7 tonight. The Rams (24-5) took out 13th-ranked Oregon 24-26, 25-21, 25-21, 15-25, 15-10 in a ragged first match.

The Ducks (21-10) were one of seven Pac-12 teams in the tournament. Cal, the only other one to play Thursday, also lost.

The winner of tonight’s match between the Western Athletic and Mountain West champions advances to the Honolulu Regional next Friday and Saturday.

UH senior Kanani Danielson led a balanced attack against UNC with 16 kills and 12 digs for her 19th double-double of the season. Freshman Jane Croson added 11 kills and middles Emily Hartong and Brittany Hewitt had eight each, with Chanteal Satele getting seven.

The Wahine also threw in eight aces — four by Hewitt — and totally took UNC out of its offense as the night wore on.

"It (serving) was a bigger impact than we realized it would be," UNC coach Lyndsey Benson said. "I knew the jump serve would give us trouble. We had been in a two-person serve-receive and we had to go to a three-person against their jump serves. Just being uncomfortable caused problems."

Big Sky Player of the Year Kelley Arnold had half the Bears’ 26 kills as Northern Colorado (22-9) hit just .180.

"We settled in and our serving bothered them enough to run them out of their offense," Shoji said. "Once that started happening then I think we took control of the match. Then our whole game started picking up when our serving did."

Hawaii (30-1), which has won its past 25, passed poorly and hit below .200 and still pulled away in the opening set behind its serving.

In an 8-3 run that put the Wahine up 14-11, half the points started on the endline. Hartong and Hewitt both had aces, while Croson and Hewitt drilled errant passes.

Arnold got seven of the Bears’ 11 kills. Only one other UNC attacker hit for a positive percentage.

It did not get better for the Bears. Their passing faded in the second set and so did Arnold, whose last kill of the set cut the UH advantage to 13-9. When Hartong stretched it to 18-12 by blasting another bad pass, Hawaii started to substitute.

Kaela Goodman, Courtney Lelepali, Monica Stauber and Kalei Adolpho all helped Hawaii get to the end, Lelepali adding another ace and Adolpho hitting UNC libero Amanda Arterburn in the knees with a kill at the 10-foot line.

Hawaii hit .395 in the set and .318 in the match, using 13 players. The third set was only a matter of time after the Wahine got the crowd going with 10 straight points.

Then Colorado State, located 25 miles from Northern Colorado’s Greeley campus, was on Hawaii’s mind.

"It’s going to be different because we have to hit really smart," Shoji said. "There will be a big block in front of our hitters. Tonight’s block was not as big. We have to change our game and be faster and smarter.

"Tonight we out-physicaled Northern Colorado. We are not going to out-physical Colorado State."

NO. 3 HAWAII DEF. NORTHERN COLORADO 25-21, 25-15, 25-15

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces). Service Aces — Northern Colorado 1 (Arnold). Hawaii 8 (Hewitt 4, Croson 2, Hartong, Lelepali). Service errors — Northern Colorado 4 (Hughes, Spaustat, Williams, Arnold). Hawaii 6 (Satele 2, Hartong 2, Danielson, Croson). Assists — Northern Colorado 25 (Hughes 24, Wilson). Hawaii 46 (Uiato 36, Stauber 5, Griffiths 2, Danielson, Croson, Satele). T — 1:17. Officials — Ernest Ho, Denice Hanson. A — 7,193.